Examples

Tieu, who initiated the study as a post-doctoral research associate in the laboratory of Dr. Serge Przedborski, the Page and William Black Professor of Neurology at Columbia University, has revealed that they chose to study how the brain handles a chemical known as MPTP, which ultimately damages the exact same brain cells that are injured in patients with Parkinson's disease.

In addition, toxins such as MPTP and rotenone, which are believed to increase reactive oxygen species from complex I of the electron transport chain, can induce a parkinsonian syndrome in humans and animal models

Hope for a neuroprotective effect of CoQ 10 was based in part on animal experiments in which mice with MPTP induced Parkinsonian symptoms were shown to have reduced loss of dopaminergic axons when treated with Coenzyme Q.